Combining Technology and Geometric Morphometrics: Expanding the Definition of the Garivaldinense in Southern Brazil

Abstract Research published in the last decade, which has provided data from both technological and morphometrical analyses of lithic points from southeastern and southern Brazil and Uruguay, suggests that there is much more cultural diversity among hunter-gatherers during the Early to Mid-Holocene than previously suggested by the Umbu Tradition model. Some of these studies have suggested new archaeological cultures and new definitions of lithic industries. In this article we present new data on another lithic assemblage that we associate with the Garivaldinense lithic industry and is found at the Pedro Fridolino Schmitz site. We also present, for the first time, the definition of two new types of lithic bifacial stemmed points. Our data suggest a low-density occupation of the site from the Middle to Late Holocene (8000–1000 BP) and some variability within the Garivaldinense industry throughout time and space.